If you ever lived in the ghetto
It may be at the close of your day
On your front porch
You hear the sound of a juke box
From a neighborhood café

At noon you may hear neighbors fussing
When a kid breaks a window pane, oh yeah
At night, at night, oh you may be awakened, oh yes
By the sound of an outward bound train

Outside us they refuse to help us, oh yes they do
And they down us for living the way we do
But when you're born a child, a child of a poor man, of a poor man
They say the ghetto is the only case for you

But if there's, if there's such thing as a here after, oh yes
And I'm satisfied, satisfied that there will be
For when they build, when they build, oh a new Jerusalem
There won't be no more ghetto ever for me, no no no
There won't be no more ghetto for me, believe I'll say it one more time
There won't be no more ghetto for me

Copyright: Universal Music Publishing Group
Writer(s): BETTYE JEAN BARNES CRUTCHER, BONNIE LYNN BRAMLETT, HOMER BANKS